Process for the manufacture of elastic fabric



June 22, 1965 G. J. A. J. VERNIER PROCESS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF ELASTIC FABRIC Filed June 20, 1960 X X X X m XX X XX 8 X X XXXX XXXX X X4 6 X X X XXX 5 X X X X u X XXXX X 4 XXXX X X 3 X X XXXX 2 XXXX X X11 BC EFGHIJKL United States Patent 3,189,972 PROCESS FGR THE MANUFACTURE 0i ELASTIC FABREC Grard Jules Antoine Marie Joseph Vernier, T lers-Lille (Nord), France, assignor to Etablissements Paul Vernier- Valentin & Fiis, Roubaix, France, a company of France Filed June 20, 1960, Ser. No. 37,469 Claims priority, application France, June 26, 1958 17,439, Patent 1,238,301; Feb. 22, 1960, 819,157 1 Claim. (Cl. 28-72) The present invention concerns the manufacture of elastic fabric.

According to the present invention a process of manufacturing elastic fabric comprises the steps of weaving a fabric of warp and weft threads with most of the warp threads being loosely woven so as to possess relatively pronounced undulations therein, and with the other warp threads being under tight tension whereby they are relatively straight, then submitting the woven fabric to a fixing treatment to fix the undulations in the loosely woven threads, and finally removing the relatively straight threads from the fabric.

The fabric may be submitted to a separate treatment before the fixing operation to accentuate the undulations of the loosely woven warp threads.

The treatment for accenting the undulations of the loosely woven warp threads of the fabric may be a heat treatment, for example, immersion in hot water, possibly with the addition of ingredients such as an acid; alternatively this accentuation of the undulations of loosely woven warp threads of the fabric may be obtained by mechanical treatment, for example, fulling. It may, however, be accentuated by a combination of heat and mechanical treatments.

The fixing may be effected by heat treatment, for example, by steam under pressure.

The same weave pattern design may be utilised for the selvedge, but having reduced undulations in the warp threads.

The weaving may be effected with certain Warp threads called tension threads mounted on a separate beam and being highly tensioned which facilitates forming and main taining the undulations in the other warp threads and then the warp tension threads may be made to disappear by any convenient process, such as carbonizing or incineration; the material of the warp tension threads being suitably chosen.

After the construction of the weave pattern, care should be taken to make the warp tension threads pass on the inside of the fabric separating the weft yarn of the face and the weft yarn of the reverse side.

Preferably the member of warp tension threads is less than the number of the other threads of the warp, for example, in the ratio of 1 to 4.

The invention will be described further, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a representation of a weave pattern design for elastic fabric, and

FIG. 2 is an enlarged longitudinal section of a fragment of fabric corresponding to the weave pattern design shown in FIG. 1.

To manufacture the elastic fabric described above there is chosen a weave pattern design having pronounced undulations in the warp threads which tends to assure an apparent elasticity of the warp threads in the course of the weaving and in the course of the subsequent treatment. There can be obtained, in this way an apparent elasticity which could attain values of the order of 30% to 35%.

In the representation shown there is conceived a warp mounted on two beams; the threads on one of the beams which will be called subsequently main warp, is woven very loosely, while the threads on the other beam, which will be called subsequently tension or auxiliary warp is, on the contrary, woven under very high tension. The threads of the main warp are of fibers of any desired type, natural, artificial or synthetic, while the threads of the tension warp are of a material which can be after weaving, made to disappear, by any convenient process such as for example, carbonizing or incineration.

The warping of the beams is effected in the usual manner, for example, the number of threads of the main warp is greater than the number of threads of the tension warp. Very good results are obtained by using four times as many main warp threads as tension warp threads. Of course, there must be provided a length of main-warp threads much greater than the length of the tension warp threads and it is thus that, for example, for meters of the first there will only be required 60 meters of the second, the difference in length being absorbed in the course of Weaving by the pronounced undulating of the main warp threads.

A great number of weave pattern designs can be utilised for the manufacture of the fabric. Nevertheless, the structure of the weave pattern design must be such that it forces a weft thread or portion of weft thread to pass to the inside of the fabric by entraining, with it, the warp thread which, in this way, will itself take up the desired undulation. It is this undulation which is conserved during the whole of the duration of the manufacture of the fabric and which gives it its elasticity.

In the example of weave pattern design represented in FIG. 1 there is indicated at 1, 2, 3, 4, four threads of the main warp and at 5, 6, 7, 8, four other threads of the main warp while 11 and 12 represent two threads of tension warp. The weft threads are designated by the letters A to L.

In the course of weaving probings are frequently made to determine that the undulations are of proper size. The main warp could, for example, be notched at one metre of length and the tension warp at 60 cm..; the two marks coming, after weaving, into alignment.

The difference in tension between the two types of warp gives a maximum degree of undulating to the main warp threads and the presence of the tension threads permits subsequent handling and treatment of the fabric to occur without the undulations in the main warp being disturbed or straightened.

The material subsequently undergoes the following treatment: degreasing, fixing, dyeing, carbonizing or incineration, drying and neutralization.

The fixing could, for example, proceed with the treatment of steam under pressure, with hot water under pressure, or passage on a stenter at high temperature.

The dyeing operation can be made at any time during the treatment but preferably after the fixing.

After elimination of the tension warp by carbonizing, incineration or other means, the fabric is elastically stretchable by virtue of the fact that the undulations in the warp threads are fixed in their sinuous configuration, whereby said threads naturally tend to return to their sinuous configuration after said threads have been pulled straight.

If desired at the end of the treament it is possible to proceed to a second fixing for consolidating the undulations of the warp threads.

Preferably the selvedges are made as the body of the fabric but having a lesser degree of warp undulation, for example half, this difference facilitating the treatment operations.

In the method described above it has been assumed that there are two types of warp thus, a main warp of which the undulations impart elastic like properties to the fabric and an auxiliary tension warp which facilitates the creation of pronounced undulations in the main warp and which maintains said undulations during the whole of the duration of the manufacture and of the treatment of the fabric, but it is also possible for the tension warp to be eliminated completely and in consequence only the retraction warp would be left. In these conditions it would be necessary obviously, in the course of the manufacture and of the treatment of the fabric, to take all the desirable precautions so as not to lengthen the undulations of the threads of the warp notably after the operation of cutting-up and degreasing.

While a particular embodiment of this invention has been illustrated and described herein, it is intended that this invention be not limited to such disclosure, and changes and modifications can be made and incorporated Within the scope of the claim.

Iclaim;

A process for producing an elastically stretchable fab- 2 ric, comprising the steps of: Weaving a fabric with main and auxiliary warp threads on a weaving apparatus with the auxiliary warp threads being on a separate beam from the main Warp threads, the auxiliary Warp threads being 4 woven in a tightly tensioned condition and the main warp threads being loosely woven in a sinuous pattern having pronounced undulations, removing said fabric from the Weaving apparatus and submitting said fabric to a fixing treatment to fix the undulations in the main warp threads, and finally removing the auxiliary warp threads from the fabric.

References Qited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,246,504 6/41 Clement 139-423 2,435,543 2/48 Johnson et al 28-76 2,575,008 11/51 Dorgin 8114.6 X 2,591,861 4/52 Pannaci. 2,747,250 5/56 Bramhall et a1. 26--54 3,001,262 9/61 Parker et al. 28-18.5 X 3,015,893 l/62 McCreary 26-60 X FOREIGN PATENTS 1,387 1870 Great Britain.

22,076 1901 Great Britain.

DONALD W. PARKER, Primary Examiner.

RUSSELL C. MADER, Examiner. 

